It’s never an easy path being in a band. Not if you’re serious about it. The Hara have always had that ability to write great songs and their latest release ‘The Fallout’ shows just how far they’ve come. All their hard work is paying off. Gary Trueman chatted to the extremely likeable Manchester trio about the new record and navigating the music industry and its rapidly changing landscape.
You guys have a new album called ‘The Fallout’. There’s a lot of character within it, it’s a bit of a statement record. You reference in places how hard the music industry can be. What happened to you?
Yes, it’s a tricky landscape out there. We got locked in the basement. We’ve been in the industry for a while and we’ve met a lot of different characters and your trust just depletes as time goes on. You think, shit can I trust this person? Are they selling me a dream or not?
The last time we spoke to you was at Download Festival a few years ago. There’s a lot of water passed under the bridge since then but you’ve stayed on people’s radar and kept on your fan’s radar, keeping people in your corner.
Hopefully, we do this for us and our fans. This album is a combination of the journey and the trials and tribulations of life.
Your particular style, the mix of alt rock, metal and emo, is a sound that’s uniquely your own. Do you feel that you’re carving your own path.
Yes we think so. It’s kind of sub-conscious but yes. It’s definitely its own thing. there’s a lot of people, fans, who will like the cross over, like the more poppy stuff, like the more metal stuff or emo or hard core or whatever. It’s our own thing that spans stuff we like ourselves as well.
You’re a trio which makes you quite a small unit. Do you think that makes you a closer knit group than say a more traditional four or five piece band? You’ve been together a while now without going through any changes to your line up which gives you a solidity too.
There’s less personalities to deal with. It’s just been about the band there’s no way anyone would leave now. It’s just the three of us.
Over the years have you changed the way you write as you’ve matured?
It has developed with maturity. We have a lot more skillsets, on production and stuff, a lot more knowledge on that side of things.
It’s important to realise that musicians need to mature and progress otherwise they will stagnate isn’t it? So the sound will change.
That’s right, the band we are now compared to one we were five or six years ago, they are polar opposites. Everything moves forward, writing, inspiration, everything changes. You’ve got to move with the times.
One of the songs on the album ‘Violence’ features As December Falls (specifically Bethany). How did that come about? Are you good friends with them?
Yeah, they’re alright haha! Na, they’re really cool guys. We had a great time on tour with them. Beth was awesome, she smashed it with the vocals. We loved it. It was a great collaboration. It’s definitely opened our eyes for possibly doing more in the future.
You toured with them. Did you find you had a lot in common and there was a lot of empathy between the two bands?
Yes, they were just super chill that was the main thing we found. When we are off stage we are very chill. We like space to relax and they have that sort of vibe. It’s good to have that when you’re on the road for a long time with people, to have that nice community vibe.
You said you had issues with the industry but it has changed a lot too, it’s had to. Even from before The Hara formed, it was all about the labels, you got signed, got money, owed money. Labels were freer with the cash. Now there’s a more DIY ethic and a willingness, a necessity to take that ethic further. Do you think that’s shifted the balance and that the money men are a bit frightened or at least cautious?
Labels expect a lot more now than before. You’re forced into that position where they want to see your sales numbers growing. For us or any other upcoming band the money side of things is still important, labels can be a big help. It’s interesting because a lot of the stuff labels used to do back in the day you can now do as an artist yourself. It’s finding a label that does stuff you can’t do or don’t want to do. And they need to be passionate about it. We get that with Mascot, they’re really good at all the behind the scenes stuff.
There is a limit how far you can take things isn’t there but they are getting a lot more picky too.
You can become huge as an independent artist but it’s a personal preference really. It depends on where you are and what you need. It’s just very open now.
People often don’t see what’s involved do they? They see a band on stage, know they’ll have rehearsed but probably won’t know about all the other off stage stuff that has to happen to get top that point. There’s designing, driving, booking accommodation, financial, promotion, this list is almost endless. So out of you three who does what to make the band function?
Josh is like the social media guy, Zack does the admin and Jack does the merch. We have a wider team as well. Cosmic Joke do all our creative stuff. Jack’s dad does a lot of our driving. It’s a quite small but loyal team. A band unfortunately is like 20 per cent making music and 80 per cent all the other stuff.
You’ve been doing this a few years now but people starting out with their first band are going to need to understand that there’s a massive business element to it all aren’t they? You have to run it professionally to have a chance of getting ahead.
That’s where a lot of new bands fail. They don’t realise how much of it is that. The quicker you can get into that mind set, that you’re building a business, the better. It’s a harsh reality, but you have to try to find the fun in it as well. That’s one of the things we tackle I think, not to let it get too hard core and too serious.
You’re a Manchester band and the city has produced a lot of big name acts over the years. Its music scene still has a pretty good reputation too doesn’t it? Does it still have a cool scene?
Yeah, the best scene in the UK, you can go out every night of the week in a different bar or club and see somebody playing whether it’s a function band or independent artist. It has a huge music scene. We have three or four actual music colleges and universities. Manchester obviously has a rich history of music and artists coming through. It’s a great scene to be part of.
Are there any other bands you’d like to give a shout out to?
There are quite a few bands we’re friends with from Sheffield like While She Sleeps and Malevolence. Guilt Trip are very cool.
Would we ever see you tour with say Malevolence at some point?
That would be awesome. They’re a bit more hard core metal than we are but they are great guys. Josh is good friends with Charlie. What they are doing at the minute and the tour they’ve just done is insane. One day we will be at that level. It’s great to see them there.
We are sure you will be. You say they are a bit more hard core but fans are a lot more receptive these days to listening to a wider range of music, and also seeing that range at gigs. It used to far much more pigeon holed. But now it’s easier for people to access different styles of music isn’t it? Maybe that tour isn’t such a bad idea?
Yeah, a hundred per cent. We’ve been to shows with people walking around arm in arm, one wearing our merch and their partner waring something insane like a Lorna Shore t-shirt, so yeah, everything kinda crosses over, and we do as well. That cross over influences our music as well. It all works together, that’s why festivals like Download work so well, because there’s something there for everyone
You’ve mentioned you have this more pop side and then the heavier side to your music. Going back to your album, the vocals have so much mood and emotion in them, backed up by the music. You’ve included a piano version of ‘Bury Me’ at the end which could broaden your audience even more. Is that something you would release as a single, as a video?
Absolutely, we’d love to. That song is pretty special. It came right near to the album recording process, the last song to be written. It was actually written on the day of recording. With the piano it really shows how beautiful it is. We always spoke about having the difference with the beautiful vocal and really meaningful lyrics in an alternative version. It really lends itself to that. It was just a case of when we were in the studio and we said let’s just jam it. It’s probably one of our favourites off the album. It’ll hit a different audience, like a gateway in. We love that about it.
No doubt you’ll be hammering the touring this year because those songs on The Fallout will be huge live.
Yes we have our big UK tour planned for February and March and we’re hoping to get back out to Europe over the summer. And do some festivals too. We’re dead eager to get it on the road.
Have you got anything you’d like to say to those people coming along to your shows and listening to your album?
If you don’t listen to it you’ll be sad because you’ll be missing out on something that could change your life and once you listen to it you’re going to want to see us live and make it even better. You’ll be in that room and you’ll be ‘oh my god!’ this is what I’ve been missing. So this is the message. See The Hara, listen to the album, and life will be good!
https://www.facebook.com/TheHaraBand
Interview by Gary Trueman
Photo credit: Cosmic Joke